Taverns in France avoided by north Europeans (4)
I believe the answer is:
inns
'taverns' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'in france avoided by north europeans' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'in' is within the answer.
'north' could be 'n' (abbreviation) and 'n' is found within the answer.
A single letter 's' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for inns that I've seen before include "More than one pub" , "King's ..., for the legal eagles" , "Old-time hostelries" , "drinking haunts" , "Country taverns" .)